Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Department of Veterans Affairs.
This document amends the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) adjudication regulations to define the term "psychosis." The term is used but not defined in certain statutes that provide presumptive service connection for compensation. The intended effect of this amendment is consistent application of these statutory provisions.
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical regulations describe veterans who are eligible to receive health care from VA in the United States. This document amends VA medical regulations to provide eligibility for VA hospital care, nursing home care, and outpatient services for any Filipino Commonwealth Army veteran, including those recognized by authority of the U.S. Army as belonging to organized Filipino guerilla forces, and for any veteran of the new Philippine Scouts, provided that any such veteran resides in the U.S. and is either a citizen of the U.S. or is lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence. Under this regulatory provision, these certain veterans are eligible for VA hospital care, nursing home care, and outpatient medical services in the United States in the same manner and subject to the same terms and conditions as apply to U.S. veterans.
This document amends VA medical regulations to codify VA policy regarding advance health care planning. The final rule sets forth a mechanism for the use of written advance directives, i.e., a VA living will, a VA durable power of attorney for health care, and a State-authorized advance directive. The final rule also sets forth a mechanism for honoring verbal or non-verbal instructions from a patient when the patient is admitted to care when critically ill and loss of capacity may be imminent and the patient is not physically able to sign an advance directive form, or the appropriate form is not readily available. This is intended to help ensure that VA acts in compliance with patients' wishes concerning future health care.
This final rule amends Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical regulations to update the patients' rights regulation by bringing its provisions regarding medication, restraints, and seclusion into conformity with current law and practice. The changes are primarily intended to clarify that it is permissible for VA patients to receive medication prescribed by any appropriate health care professional authorized to prescribe medication, and that it is permissible for any authorized licensed health care professional to order the use of restraints and seclusion when necessary. The rule also makes nonsubstantive changes in the patients' rights regulation for purposes of clarification.
This document affirms as final, without change, an interim final rule that established presumptions of service connection for atherosclerotic heart disease, hypertensive vascular disease, and stroke in former prisoners of war; set forth guidelines to govern future actions by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to establish presumptions of service connection for other diseases associated with service involving detention or internment as a prisoner of war; and revised VA's regulations to conform to statutory changes made by the Veterans Benefits Act of 2003.
BACKGROUND: A panel of experts developed stroke rehabilitation guidelines for the Veterans Health Administration and Department of Defense Medical Systems. METHODS: Starting from previously established guidelines, the panel evaluated published literature through 2002, using criteria developed by the US Preventive Services Task Force. Recommendations were based on evidence from randomized clinical trials, uncontrolled studies, or consensus expert opinion if definitive data were lacking. RESULTS: Recommendations with Level I evidence include the delivery of poststroke care in a multidisciplinary rehabilitation setting or stroke unit, early patient assessment via the NIH Stroke Scale, early initiation of rehabilitation therapies, swallow screening testing for dysphagia, an active secondary stroke prevention program, and proactive prevention of venous thrombi. Standardized assessment tools should be used to develop a comprehensive treatment plan appropriate to each patient's deficits and needs. Medical therapy for depression or emotional lability is strongly recommended. A speech and language pathologist should evaluate communication and related cognitive disorders and provide treatment when indicated. The patient, caregiver, and family are essential members of the rehabilitation team and should be involved in all phases of the rehabilitation process. These recommendations are available in their entirety at http://stroke.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/36/9/e100. Evidence tables for each of the recommendations are also in the full document. CONCLUSIONS: These recommendations should be equally applicable to stroke patients receiving rehabilitation in all medical system settings and are not based on clinical problems or resources unique to the Federal Medical System.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is amending its adjudication regulations concerning presumptive service connection for certain diseases for veterans who participated in radiation-risk activities during active service or while members of reserve components during active duty for training or inactive duty training. This amendment adds cancers of the bone, brain, colon, lung, and ovary to the list of diseases which may be presumptively service connected and amends the definition of the term "radiation-risk activity." The intended effect of this amendment is to ensure that veterans who may have been exposed to radiation during military service do not have a higher burden of proof than civilians exposed to ionizing radiation who may be entitled to compensation for these cancers under comparable Federal statutes.
This document amends Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) adjudication regulations to reflect changes made by the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001, which changed the rate of compensation payments to certain Filipino veterans residing in the United States and the Veterans Benefits and Health Care Improvement Act of 2000, which changed the amount of the burial benefit paid to the survivors of certain Filipino veterans who were residing in the United States at the times of their deaths.
This document amends VA's medical regulations to set forth a mechanism for determining copayments for inpatient hospital care and outpatient medical care. This is necessary to implement provisions of the Veterans Millennium Health Care and Benefits Act and to set forth exemptions from copayment requirements as mandated by statute.
This document amends VA's medical regulations to set forth copayment requirements for medications. This is necessary to implement provisions of the Veterans Millennium Health Care and Benefits Act.
The Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) adjudicates appeals from denials of claims for veterans' benefits filed with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). This document amends a Board Rule of Practice, pertaining to a type of notice given in simultaneously contested claim appeals, to eliminate an inconsistency between that Rule of Practice and an Appeals Regulation and to update a presumption related to communication of the notice.
This document amends the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) adjudication regulations to eliminate the requirement that beneficiaries advise VA of changes affecting entitlement to benefits in writing. This allows VA to increase or decrease benefit payments based on information submitted orally or by e-mail, facsimile, or other electronic means and makes it easier for beneficiaries to submit information that they must provide. This document also amends our notice requirements to allow VA to reduce or terminate benefit payments based on information reported orally without issuing a 60-day advance notice, but only under certain conditions that ensure that claimants are not deprived of benefits without adequate notice. This will reduce the amounts of any over payments created by these actions.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is amending its adjudication regulations regarding compensation for disabilities resulting from undiagnosed illnesses suffered by Persian Gulf War veterans. This amendment is necessary to extend the period within which such disabilities must become manifest to a compensable degree in order for entitlement for compensation to be established. The intended effect of this amendment is to ensure that veterans with compensable disabilities due to undiagnosed illnesses that may be related to active service in the Southwest Asia theater of operations during the Persian Gulf War may qualify for benefits.
This document amends the Rules of Practice of the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) relating to the time limit for filing a "substantive appeal." The amendment implements an opinion by the General Counsel of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that, in some cases, when a claimant files additional evidence, the deadline for filing a substantive appeal may be extended.
This document amends various Department of Veterans Affairs(VA) regulations concerning the definition of the term "active military, naval, or air service"; the payment limitation based on the value of certain incompetent veterans' estates; the plot allowance for certain individuals buried in State veterans' cemeteries and the limitation on payment of pension for certain recipients of Medicaid-covered nursing home care. The amendments are necessary to reflect statutory changes contained in the Veterans Benefits and Health Care Improvement Act of 2000.
This document amends the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) adjudication regulations to implement the provisions of the Veterans Claims Assistance Act of 2000 (the VCAA), which was effective on November 9,2000. The intended effect of this regulation is to establish clear guidelines consistent with the intent of Congress regarding the timing and the scope of assistance VA will provide to a claimant who files a substantially complete application for VA benefits or who attempts to reopen a previously denied claim.
This document makes nomenclature changes in VA regulations in 38 CFR Chapter I to reflect current Veterans Benefits Administration titles and office designations. References to the "Chief Benefits Director" are changed to "Under Secretary for Benefits." Also, references to "Vocational Rehabilitation and Counseling" and its abbreviation "VR&C" are changed to "Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment" and "VR&E," respectively. In addition, references to the "Vocational Rehabilitation and Education Service" are changed to "Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Service" or "Education Service" as appropriate.
This document amends the educational assistance regulations of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The amendments reflect statutory changes contained in the Veterans Millennium Health Care and Benefits Act of 1999 and statutory interpretations. This document also makes changes for the purpose of clarification.